Stolen Dreams
by Love like a Rose
Summary: This is the story of Joseph, told with the detail I criticize myself for.


DISCLAIMER: ugh, who doesn't hate these. Any how... In no way am I really worthy to write anything about God's holy Word. And saying that, it's obviously not mine, but His. None of the characters are my own, although i must say i took the liberty of giving them all their personalities.  
**A**/**N: 1: **This was supposed to have a poem i wrote in the beginning, but the poem ended up being twisted in chronologic order. so, there will sadly be no poem.  
**2:** In the next chapter, probably being the one where he gets sold, one of the characters may be able to be claimed as mine.  
**3: **special note to cocodie-18: I was already writing this when i found yours...i looked for it because i didn't want to copy anyone's story. Your's is really good (i reccomend it to all the other people out there. Its called "the slaves of ancient egypt")....ok go ahead and read it, people.

** Prologue**  
Rachel, Jacob's second wife, was finally having a child, hopefully a son. Jacob stood with his ten sons just out side the tent, while Leah, his first wife, and Dinah, her daughter, helped Rachel with the birth, and of course there was a midwife.  
Most of the boys were playing a sort of tag. But Reuben, his eldest, stood by his father, quite still. He was a master of waiting patiently. With all his other nine brothers, and Dinah, he had been expected to come with his father to wait for the child to be born. Anyhow, he was a young man now.  
Finally, Dinah came out, allowing Jacob to go in and see the baby, confirming that it was a boy. So now it was Reuben's job to gather all his brothers.  
"Gad! Dan! Levi! Judah!" He called, knowing that the rest would follow. All nine came running over, just as Reuben had guessed.  
"Is it a boy then, Reuben?" Levi asked.  
"Yes."  
Then Jacob came out. "Boys," he said, "Two or three of you may go in at a time to see the child, starting with Reuben and Simeon." Those two looked at each other. Though they were both eager to see this new brother, they had been through similar circumstances so many times previously that they figured the younger ones could go first, and stated this to their father.  
Jacob smiled. "Very well, then." And so it went, youngest to oldest. And Reuben continued to exercise his patience. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -  
  
"Father!" Joseph called, walking into the main tent. Jacob was old now. Not that he had exactly been young when the boy was born.  
Jacob walked out of the shadows. "Ah, my son! It is good that you are out of the sun during the middle of the day. We would not want you to get sick, now would we?"  
Joseph smiled. "But it is only I, Father. My brothers, but for Benjamin, are out tending our sheep. However, I have been keeping a sharp, young eye on them, Father. I have a report for you."  
Joseph's chest puffed out when he said this. If one ever asked him if he were prideful, he would surely deny it: No more prideful than any man should be, knowing he was his father's favorite. But the boy was humble, even so.  
Jacob sighed. "What have those ten done now?"  
Outside, Gad had come back to the tent to bring a jug of water back for the lot of them, and happened to hear Joseph beginning another stream of lies. Well, only if one asked Gad or Asher. The rest knew they were always completely true, whether they wished them to be or not.  
Gad filled a jug from the well, and, hearing that Joseph was nearly done with his report, as quickly as he could, bearing a full jug of water, ran back to where the rest of the ten were taking care of the sheep.  
"That prideful, lying favorite of our father's!" Gad spluttered when he reached his brothers.  
Reuben and Simeon looked at each other. The boy they had been so eager to see seventeen years ago had become very prideful indeed, and spoiled, as the youngest. Until his dear brother Benjamin was born. It had done Joseph good to have someone to look after. But never was he unkind, and both men loved him more than the others did.  
And all the men prepared to hear what spiteful things Joseph had done, no doubt exaggerated by Gad to make it seem worse.  
Sure enough, when Gad was done, there were all sorts of cries of things like, "Prideful baby!" "Daddy's little favorite." "The nerve!!!"  
Reuben sighed. Even Levi, who tended to be more grounded than the others, was believing Gad's lies. As the eldest, he had seen Gad grow up as the family liar. There had been many similar cases where Joseph had been the cause of Gad's lies.  
**- - - Flashback - - -**  
_"Simeon! Joseph chased the sheep away!" Gad said. He had long mastered his lies. Only Reuben could tell when the boy was lying. This was, of course, another lie.  
Quiet Reuben. The peacemaker. "Ah, Gad. Tell me, why did you not simply go rescue our sheep, instead of coming to tell Simeon and letting them get farther away?"  
"I...I left them with...Asher." Gad knew that Reuben could tell when he was lying, but tried it anyhow. But it made him nervous, so his lies were bad.  
"Little brother, Asher is over there watching his sheep. Come, let us go find those sheep".  
Just at that moment, a very young Joseph came running up and grabbed Reuben around the legs. "Reuben! Judah is teasing me. He says that I am not really anyone's brother but Benjamin, little Benjamin."  
Now was not the time to tell the child that Judah was, in fact, telling the truth, that most of them were half brothers anyhow, what with Leah and Rachel AND both their made servants bearing sons to Jacob.  
"Little brother, do not worry about what Judah says as yet. I must go help Gad find his sheep now. He says you chased them away. Little brother, you didn't, did you?"  
"No, Reuben, I'm scared of them."  
"Of course."  
Reuben turned to Gad, who blushed and ran off behind a bush, and came back with the sheep._   
**- - - End Flashback - - -**  
Reuben figured this lie could go with out being surfaced. True, Joseph had begun to irk even him lately. Of course, he meant well. Benjamin didn't seem the type to become irksome, and no one could help loving the boy.   
Reuben expected dinner that night to be full of angry words. He was not disappointed.  
As soon as they had said their dinner prayer, Gad opened his mouth. Every one else was quietly sipping lentil soup, hoping someone else would bring up the afternoon's events, but hoping at the same time that no one would.  
Gad said, "Father, what did you do today?" Not only was he a master liar, he could start and argument easily, calmly, innocently.   
"Ah, sat around, listened to Joseph. He told me you all did something mischievous again today. Care to elaborate, anyone?"   
Reuben quickly swallowed the rest of his soup, scalding his tongue. He didn't want to be there once Gad, Joseph, Naphtali and Jacob all began yelling.   
Sure enough, they did. And once they were deep enough into their argument, all but Judah quietly left the table, one by one.   
Later that night, Joseph was sitting just outside of the tent. All his brothers were asleep, but tonight, Joseph did not wish to join them in their slumber. This was another one of those nights when he wondered what was so great about being the father's favorite. It was more understandable when the favorite was the eldest. But Joseph was far from the oldest.   
On nights like this, his only comfort was the God who had made endless promises to his ancestors. When he looked up at the stars, he felt the presence of God. Jacob joined Joseph.   
"Beautiful night, is it not? This is like the night when my name was changed, to Israel, when I wrestled with the Lord."   
Joseph smiled. When he was younger, his father had taken quite a pleasure in telling and retelling this story and the one of his dream to all his sons, even though even Joseph had been born when it happened.   
Jacob sighed, then after a few moments of silence, he said, "Joseph, I have something for you." He took out a bundle and handed it to Joseph, who was still surprised at the idea of Jacob giving him anything. Until now, the only reason any of the brothers could identify Jacob's favoritism of Joseph was by the way he spoke to him and about him.   
Joseph slowly took it, and gazed at it a moment before untying the twine reverently. The twine fell away, and the bundle started to unfold. It was all cloth, a finely spun wool.   
As he looked closer, Joseph realized it had shades of every hue; brilliant dies intricately woven together. Every angle showed beautiful new colors. There was a golden cord trim and even a red and gold linen belt. It was a robe, a coat, tailored to fit Joseph precisely.   
"Father, it is a noble gift. Thank you very much!"   
"Ah, try it on!" Joseph tried it on and modeled it for Jacob. "It would have been worth the wait for your mother to have her own children, if she could have seen you like this, bless her soul."  
Joseph knew now the truth about his family, and it hurt him deeply that his mother, Rachel, had died just after naming Benjamin, his only true brother.


End file.
